Hierarchy in Labels - NOT standard folders

[LucasLs]

Hierarchy in Labels makes very much sense!
I'm NOT talking about turning Labels into Folders.

Imagine this situation:
I've got a lot of emails about Programming Languages, so I should put
then on the "Programming Languages" label.
Now all the emails about Java must be on a label called "Java" and all
about C# in a "C#" label.

- C# (40)
- Java (60)
- Programming Languages (100)

But, you can see that every email about Java must be put into TWO
different labels. Why? Isn't an email about Java an email about
Languages? Doesn't this make sense? It's simple hierarchy!

- Programming Languages (100)
- - C# (40)
- - Java (60)

My suggestion is: Emails that I put in label "Java" must be in
"Languages" too. So if I want to see all my emails about Programming
languages, I'll click on "Languages".

Resuming: Clicking on a label should return the label's messages and
the sub-labels' messages (recursively).

Another Example:

- Family (170) << Click here to see all emails of your family
- - Dad (50) << Click here to see only your dad's emails
- - Mom (50) << Click here to see only your mom's emails
- - Brothers (50) << Click here to see emails from all your brothers
- - - - John (20) << Click here to see only John's emails
- - - - Mike (30) << Click here to see only Mike's emails
- - [Other] (20) << Click here to see the emails of your family
that are not on sub labels (It's a 'virtual' sub-label suggestion)

Label System's concept is amazing.
Introducing Labels in Gmail is a revolution in Organization of Data.

But hierarchy is the one missing thing to make it perfect.

Sorry for English errors. English is not my native language.

Lucas Laurindo

[Benjamin Hutchins]

Not to seem rude Lucas but a hierarchy in labels doesn't seem to make
any sense. The point of labels is to remove the hierarchy and make
your organization of e-mails more flexible. If for example you had a
lot of e-mails about Programming Languages, then you could mark all
those e-mails with the label "Programming Languages." Then, if you
wanted to further organize, you could apply the label "Java" to the e-
mails about Java. You now have the same end result, but a more
flexible system because now you could run a search for
"label:programming-languages AND (label:java OR label:python)" And you
could then see both Java and Python, where if you had a hierarchy
system you could not filter like that.

I believe the only benefit from the hierarchy system would be the
ability to hide certain Labels from being shown by default, which you
can also now do by dragging a label into the "More" section.

[LucasLs]

This is not only about displaying labels hierarchically such as
folders as you said.
My argument is that a 'Java' message IS a 'Programming' message. Isn't
this true?

Another example: I've got a lot of emails about Online Shopping and I
want to group then on a label 'Online Shopping'.
Some of these emails are from Ebay, some are from Amazon and I want
them organized in two different labels: 'Ebay' and 'Amazon'. When I
label my email as an 'Ebay' message it should appear automatically on
'Online Shopping'. It's logical.

Do you know Object Oriented Languages? That's the same concept. Try to
imagine labels as Classes and messages as Instances of these classes.

Can you see the difference? Label 'Amazon' is not inside 'Online
Shopping' as a folder. They are still on "root".
But label 'Amazon' extends the label 'Online Shopping'.

Showing them hierarchically as I wrote may be only an option. "Display
labels alphabetically" or "Display labels hierarchically".

Display Alphabetically:
-- Amazon (5)
-- C# (10)
-- Ebay (10)
-- Java (10)
-- Online Shopping (20)
-- Pascal (5)
-- Programming Languages (30)
-- Visual Basic (5)

Display Hierarchically:
-- Online Shopping (20)
-- -- Amazon (5)
-- -- Ebay (10)
-- -- [Other] (5)
-- Programming Languages (30)
-- -- C# (10)
-- -- Java (10)
-- -- Pascal (5)
-- -- Visual Basic (5)
-- -- [Other] (0)

Hope you understand my argumentation ^^

Lucas Laurindo

[EDUBARBOSA]

I registered here to make the SAME suggestion.

I also have this problem, to mark 2 or 3 labels, which only one is the
more significant. The others could be put automatically.

My case is:

I have the folders:

Msc
Thesis
Articles

When i get a email ralated of my Thesis. I have to put in TWO labels.
Some filter or hierachy could reduce my work to put in ONE labels
(Thesis). The Gmail put the other label (Msc).


Eduardo

[Rick Jones]

This is important for me too, but in a slightly different sense,
because I want to import my existing email archive into gmail.

I currently run a local IMAP server, but I can get better flexibility
by moving this to gmail. I will continue to use my IMAP client as well
as gmail via the web, according to convenience.

I have many years of email, with nearly 500 folders in a hierarchy
that has 25 top-level nodes. When imported into gmail, each folder is
a distinct label, with the parts separated by '/'. E.g. work/clients/
company1, work/clients/company2, etc. When viewed in IMAP, this
renders as a hierarchy, because gmail uses '/' as the IMAP separator.

I'm quite happy for gmail to treat these as discrete labels, but it's
the visualisation that's a problem. I can hide all the labels so they
don't appear in the main view, but to select a label means clicking
"More" and getting all 500 in one hit - that's just unmanageable (I've
only done a test import of 50 folders/labels so far, and that's bad
enough). Same problem with the "Label" drop-down button.

All it needs to be workable is for labels containing '/' to be
rendered in a tree that can be expanded on a node-by-node basis, as
with any kind of folder tree. The sub-parts of the label may or may
not be labels in their own right, depending on whether you have
created them as such. E.g. in my example, it's possible that "work"
and/or "work/clients" might not be labels themselves.

This would make large numbers of labels manageable, and make the web
and IMAP views consistent, while taking nothing away from gmail's idea
of labels over folders.

There is actually an IMAP glitch with this, which is a separate issue.
These labels are seen by IMAP as hierarchical only when it looks at
all folders. When looking at subscribed folders it sees them as a flat
list, not a hierarchy. This could do with fixing.

I hope I've made sense!

Rick

[travelling lady]

I love your suggestion - for those of us who use gmail for lots of
different subjects - this would be fantastic

Like for Household subjects, you could have
Family Finance
--years
----2008
----2009
----2010
--budget
----2008
----2009
----2010
--Taxes
----2008
----2009
----2010
Appliances
--purchase
----stove
----refrigerator
Warranties
--appliances
-----stove
-----refrigerator

You would certainly want many items in multiple files - but the top
hierarchically list would only say Household

Please Google folks think about some type of hirerarchical format - so
many of us need it - for those that don't, they don't have to use it.

> > > Lucas Laurindo- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[MACCoutinho]

I agree, this would be a wonderful feature!

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[ibbleismyword]

I love this idea of a user-defined hierarchical label system. It
would allow me to do a much better job organizing my emails.

[hejsan]

I am also in the process of transferring an organization and it is
causing much grief for people with many years of organized emails.

Please make a hierarchical label system optional, where an email about
java would appear under "programming language" and "programming
language->Java".

When dragging a message to a label, it should expand and display its
sub labels.

Cheers,
hejsan

> > > > > Not to seem rude Lucas but ahierarchyin labels doesn't seem to make
> > > > > any sense. The point of labels is to remove thehierarchyand make

> > > > > your organization of e-mails more flexible. If for example you had a
> > > > > lot of e-mails about Programming Languages, then you could mark all
> > > > > those e-mails with the label "Programming Languages." Then, if you
> > > > > wanted to further organize, you could apply the label "Java" to the e-
> > > > > mails about Java. You now have the same end result, but a more
> > > > > flexible system because now you could run a search for
> > > > > "label:programming-languages AND (label:java OR label:python)" And you
> > > > > could then see both Java and Python, where if you had ahierarchy
> > > > > system you could not filter like that.
>

> > > > > I believe the only benefit from thehierarchysystem would be the

> > > > > ability to hide certain Labels from being shown by default, which you
> > > > > can also now do by dragging a label into the "More" section.
>
> > > > > On Sep 24, 9:02 am, LucasLs wrote:
>

> > > > > >Hierarchyin Labels makes very much sense!

> > > > > > Buthierarchyis the one missing thing to make it perfect.

[Skullster]

Ah this is just what I need.

I'm helping a company migrate from Thunderbird client from pop3 to
Thunderbird and web interface on Google mail. They absolutely hate the
way their labels show up. They want it to look like their old
Thunderbird folder structure - and they don't care that they are
really labels. If this were to be available they could dump thier old
client altogether and move to the web interface.

I think we can all understand how flexible and powerful labels are but
if users want it to work like folders why not let them choose? If it
gets more people onto Google mail it must be a good thing eh?

Cheers

Skullster

> > > > >foldersas you said.

[Technohippy]

Yep i could use some heirarchy, i'm going to end up with loads of
labels and need an easy way to click through.

I am organising my business through gmail and a file tree structure
makes the whole thing a bit more navigable

Thanks

Technohippy

On Dec 8, 1:49 pm, Skullster wrote:
> Ah this is just what I need.
>
> I'm helping a company migrate from Thunderbird client from pop3 to
> Thunderbird and web interface on Google mail. They absolutely hate the

> way theirlabelsshow up.  They want it to look like their old

> Thunderbird folder structure - and they don't care that they are

> reallylabels.  If this were to be available they could dump thier old

> client altogether and move to the web interface.
>

> I think we can all understand how flexible and powerfullabelsare but

> > > > > > This is not only about displayinglabelshierarchically such as

> > > > > >foldersas you said.
> > > > > > My argument is that a 'Java' message IS a 'Programming' message. Isn't
> > > > > > this true?
>
> > > > > > Another example: I've got a lot of emails about Online Shopping and I
> > > > > > want to group then on a label 'Online Shopping'.
> > > > > > Some of these emails are from Ebay, some are from Amazon and I want

> > > > > > them organized in two differentlabels: 'Ebay' and 'Amazon'. When I

> > > > > > label my email as an 'Ebay' message it should appear automatically on
> > > > > > 'Online Shopping'. It's logical.
>
> > > > > > Do you know Object Oriented Languages? That's the same concept. Try to

> > > > > > imaginelabelsas Classes and messages as Instances of these classes.

>
> > > > > > Can you see the difference? Label 'Amazon' is not inside 'Online
> > > > > > Shopping' as a folder. They are still on "root".
> > > > > > But label 'Amazon' extends the label 'Online Shopping'.
>
> > > > > > Showing them hierarchically as I wrote may be only an option. "Display

> > > > > >labelsalphabetically" or "Displaylabelshierarchically".

>
> > > > > > Display Alphabetically:
> > > > > > -- Amazon (5)
> > > > > > -- C# (10)
> > > > > > -- Ebay (10)
> > > > > > -- Java (10)
> > > > > > -- Online Shopping (20)
> > > > > > -- Pascal (5)
> > > > > > -- Programming Languages (30)
> > > > > > -- Visual Basic (5)
>
> > > > > > Display Hierarchically:
> > > > > > -- Online Shopping (20)
> > > > > > -- -- Amazon (5)
> > > > > > -- -- Ebay (10)
> > > > > > -- -- [Other] (5)
> > > > > > -- Programming Languages (30)
> > > > > > -- -- C# (10)
> > > > > > -- -- Java (10)
> > > > > > -- -- Pascal (5)
> > > > > > -- -- Visual Basic (5)
> > > > > > -- -- [Other] (0)
>
> > > > > > Hope you understand my argumentation ^^
>
> > > > > > Lucas Laurindo
>
> > > > > > On Sep 24, 11:09 am, Benjamin Hutchins wrote:
>

> > > > > > > Not to seem rude Lucas but ahierarchyinlabelsdoesn't seem to make
> > > > > > > any sense. The point oflabelsis to remove thehierarchyand make

> > > > > > > your organization of e-mails more flexible. If for example you had a
> > > > > > > lot of e-mails about Programming Languages, then you could mark all
> > > > > > > those e-mails with the label "Programming Languages." Then, if you
> > > > > > > wanted to further organize, you could apply the label "Java" to the e-
> > > > > > > mails about Java. You now have the same end result, but a more
> > > > > > > flexible system because now you could run a search for
> > > > > > > "label:programming-languages AND (label:java OR label:python)" And you
> > > > > > > could then see both Java and Python, where if you had ahierarchy
> > > > > > > system you could not filter like that.
>
> > > > > > > I believe the only benefit from thehierarchysystem would be the

> > > > > > > ability to hide certainLabelsfrom being shown by default, which you

> > > > > > > can also now do by dragging a label into the "More" section.
>
> > > > > > > On Sep 24, 9:02 am, LucasLs wrote:
>

> > > > > > > >HierarchyinLabelsmakes very much sense!

> > > > > > > > I'm NOT talking about turningLabelsintoFolders.
>
> > > > > > > > Imagine this situation:
> > > > > > > > I've got a lot of emails about Programming Languages, so I should put
> > > > > > > > then on the "Programming Languages" label.
> > > > > > > > Now all the emails about Java must be on a label called "Java" and all
> > > > > > > > about C# in a "C#" label.
>
> > > > > > > > - C# (40)
> > > > > > > > - Java (60)
> > > > > > > > - Programming Languages (100)
>
> > > > > > > > But, you can see that every email about Java must be put into TWO

> > > > > > > > differentlabels. Why? Isn't an email about Java an email about

> > > > > > > > Languages? Doesn't this make sense? It's simplehierarchy!
>
> > > > > > > > - Programming Languages (100)
> > > > > > > > - - C# (40)
> > > > > > > > - - Java (60)
>
> > > > > > > > My suggestion is: Emails that I put in label "Java" must be in
> > > > > > > > "Languages" too. So if I want to see all my emails about Programming
> > > > > > > > languages, I'll click on "Languages".
>
> > > > > > > > Resuming: Clicking on a label should return the label's messages and
> > > > > > > > the sub-labels' messages (recursively).
>
> > > > > > > > Another Example:
>
> > > > > > > > - Family (170)       << Click here to see all emails of your family
> > > > > > > > - - Dad (50)          << Click here to see only your dad's emails
> > > > > > > > - - Mom (50)        << Click here to see only your mom's emails
> > > > > > > > - - Brothers (50)   << Click here to see emails from all your brothers
> > > > > > > > - - - - John (20)     << Click here to see only John's emails
> > > > > > > > - - - - Mike (30)     << Click here to see only Mike's emails
> > > > > > > > - - [Other] (20)      << Click here to see the emails of your family

> > > > > > > > that are not on sublabels(It's a 'virtual' sub-label suggestion)

>
> > > > > > > > Label System's concept is amazing.

> > > > > > > > IntroducingLabelsin Gmail is a revolution in Organization of Data.